Learning about the wonderful world of whisk(e)y and sharing the journey.

Archive for the ‘Festivals’ Category

Introduction

Like I did last year, I’m going to be following blogs and tweets, living vicariously through Feis Ile festival-goers. Feis Ile is the Festival of Malt and Music, taking place the last week of May each year on the island of Islay in Scotland. As long as I’m following along, I figure I might as well post my findings here, providing an index for others who might be interested. I’ll update this post periodically throughout each day of the festival.

caskstrength.net – Day 1 recap. Teaming up with The Whisky Guy, what a day of tasting they had! Check out the exclusive Lagavulin bottlings they tried out…

Day 2 (May 23, 2010) – Bruichladdich open day

WHISKYFUN by Serge – Following up on yesterday’s tasting notes, here’s the surrogate WF team thoughts on the new Lagavulin distillery only bottling. Update – This entry now includes notes for the Bruichladdich festival bottling.

Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – An interesting read, with an honest look at some of the pluses and minuses of Bruichladdich. I suspect Tony and Michelle are not the only ones with an opinion like this. Between their tasting notes and the Whiskyfun notes above, I’m not in any real hurry to get my hands on the 6 year old Bruichladdich festival bottling.

WhiskyCast – I just saw Mark Gillespie’s tweet about a special edition of WhiskyCast from Feis Ile. It looks like he might be doing a special episode each day of the festival. Check out episodes 254 and 255.

whiskysamples.eu – The Lagavulin distillery-only bottling reviewed above by Whiskyfun is now available as a sample. As is the Bruichladdich Festival bottling. I also see that the Lagavulin Festival bottling is already sold out!

caskstrength.net – [Update x2] And here we have a late, late update from the team at caskstrength.net. An excellent post worth waiting for, however. Check out their reviews of three Laddies and a Port Charlotte. They liked the festival bottling more than the other reviewers, too, but perhaps there was some bias involved (something about having assisted in the bottling).🙂

Day 3 (May 24, 2010) – Caol Ila open day

WhiskyCast – Episode 256, recorded at the Caol Ila distillery, has been posted. Go check it out. Or, better yet, just subscribe to the podcast already.🙂

Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – While they were unable to get into the Caol Ila tasting master class, we get a nice description of the CI festival bottling. Sounds different, and intriguing…almost Laphroaig-like according to Tony.

WHISKYFUN by Serge – Here’s the Whiskyfun review of the above CI festival bottling. Can’t wait to try my sample from whiskysamples! Also in the same post, check out the rave review of the Caol Ila Manager’s Choice. Lastly, a music recommendation for Hank Jones, an amazing Jazz pianist and class act who passed away last week. Definitely worth looking into, and cheers to Serge for including that recommendation.

caskstrength.net – [Update Posted on the 25th] Read along as the guys fight through their hangovers and compare three Caol Ilas.

Day 4 (May 25, 2010) – Laphroaig open day

Note about whiskysamples.eu: You can order the samples from whiskysamples.eu as they come available and select “ToGo” as your shipping country. This will result in your only being charged for the samples themselves. At the end of the festival, send an email to them letting them know you’re ready to complete your order, and they’ll charge you once for shipping. [Also, they have a few samples of the 2009 Laphroaig festival bottling available]

whiskysamples.eu – Available now: Laphroaig Cairdeas Master Edition for Feis Ile (57.3%). This is a vatting of 11 to 19 year old whiskies created by Master Blender Robert Hicks. I wish they’d ship this to Friends of Laphroaig in the U.S.!

WHISKYFUN by Serge – What do Malt Maniacs do while they’re on Islay for the festival? Only have one of the coolest whisky tastings ever! Check out their thoughts on ALL 9 of the Port Ellen annual releases.

WhiskyCast – Episode 257 has been posted for Laphroaig day at Feis Ile. See what’s up with Distillery Manager John Campbell and Master Blender Robert Hicks.

Late update: Two new posts on Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog. First, coverage of the Whisky Tasting Ceilidh on Monday night. Second, we get a Day 4 overview from the Laphroaig distillery.

Day 5 (May 26, 2010) Bowmore open day

Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – Titled “Bowmore (err…lagavulin)”, we get some info on what was being offered at Bowmore, but Tony and Michelle actually headed off to Lagavulin for a tour. And what a tour it was (tastings right out of the casks)! Not only do I HAVE to go to Islay some day, but a Laga tour will definitely need to be part of the itinerary.

whiskysamples.eu – I don’t see any Bowmore posted yet, but you can now order a sample of Laphroaig 10 CS Batch 002 for €3.00.

WHISKYFUN by Serge – Not a review of Bowmore whisky, but an amusing article on Islay sausage. Make sure you click the “Lucky” link at the bottom of the post.

WHISKYFUN by Serge (Update) – A review of two non-festival Bowmore bottlings from the festival. But most impressive is the insider exclusive on a new distillery to be built next year. Get the scoop on the Auchenbowie distillery!

Day 6 (May 27, 2010) Jura/Kilchoman open day

caskstrength.net had to leave the festival early, but they provide a post with an overview of (and commentary on) the festival bottlings, including a preview of the Ardbeg bottling coming this Saturday.

Jura Picture of the Day – The Jura Pic of the Day web site provided a teaser for those planning to attend their open day today.

WHISKYFUN by Serge – An update to the May 27th post, with tasting notes on the Kilchoman Feis Ile bottle. Finally – A pure bourbon cask release (no finishing), and I can’t get it. Doh!

Isle of Jura (official web site) – Their Feis Ile page has been updated with a virtual tasting session of three vintage limited edition Jura whiskies. Also, if you’re a Diurach, the three winners of signed bottles are announced in the video.

Richard Paterson – I guess “The Nose” is helping folks at the festival pick out casks to be used in a distillery-only Jura bottling. Now that would be cool!

WhiskyCast – It’s a two episode day, covering both Kilchoman and Jura. Talk about full festival coverage!

Day 8 (May 29, 2010) Ardbeg open day

Tony and Michelle’s 2010 Islay Festival Blog – They didn’t get the Ardbeg festival bottling, but it turns out it “only” cost £125. Half of what people had been saying it would cost. Somebody won a 4.5 liter Rollercoaster bottle. Cool!

Feis Ile 2009

Feis Ile – the Islay Festival of Malt and Music – started this past weekend. I’ve been following the action through Blogs and Tweets, and thought I’d post links to some of the more interesting sources I’ve found:

Feis Ile Web Site

Here’s a link to the Festival Events page on the official Feis Ile site. You can see the main events taking place each day, giving you an idea of what people will be blogging/tweeting about and when.

The Islay Blog

The Islay Blog is posting detailed festival events at the beginning of each day, as well as additional information and videos.

Saturday event schedule, including a link to a PDF with an overview of the whole week.

The Whisky Fun crew is posting tasting notes and ratings by proxy from a Belgian team led by Luc Timmermans. Luc is the one responsible for the whiskysamples web site (see “A taste of Feis Ile” below).

Tasting notes for the Lagavulin, Caol Ila and Bruichladdich special Feis Ile bottlings. These are available only from the distillery during the festival. Will somebody like The Whisky Exchange get their hands on some bottles and make them available at a reasonable price? I sure hope so. I’ll be keeping an eye out for that Caol Ila cask strength.

Chris and Lucas were unable to make it to Feis Ile, but they do have Paula Arthur, who did attend, providing guest blog posts. She kept a detailed travelogue of her adventure,including pictures and tasting notes.

Paula’s last day – The final entry in Paula’s travelogue. Another great read. [Update 6/9]

IslayBlog.com

IslayBlog.com – Armin has some Feis Ile stuff in his Weekly Islay Blogging Roundup. Keep an eye out for his roundup next week, as it’s sure to have a lot more interesting Feis Ile updates. Follow Armin on Twitter for additional, real-time updates: @islayblog.

Laphroaig Direct

John Campbell, distillery manager at Laphroaig, and Margy McCoy from Friends of Laphroaig, are now on Twitter and posting updates during festival week: @Laphroigwhisky and @MargyMcCoy.

Spirit of Islay

Spirit of Islay – I’m not sure how I missed this before now, but Gordon from the great Spirit of Islay web site has been posting updates from Feis Ile as well. Great stuff. [Update 5/29]

A taste of Feis Ile – Check out the Whisky Samples web site, where you can order 30ml samples of the special Feis Ile bottlings. As of this writing, the Lagavulin and Caol Ila are sold out (I just missed them…argh!), but you can still get Laphroaig, Bruichladdich, Ardbeg, Bowmore and Bunnahabhain. [Update 5/29]

Jura Bonus – Ok, they’re not at Feis Ile, but check out the Dubber and Clutch blog as they take a special trip to Jura with their Flip video camera, sampling new Jura expressions, and taking video shots during their inside tour of the distillery. You can also follow along with them on Twitter: @twhisky. [Update] It looks like Dubber and Clutch did manage to sneak over to Feis Ile.